Method and stored program for accumulating descriptive profile data along with source information for use in targeting third-party advertisements

ABSTRACT

A descriptive-profile mercantile method, for use at a juncture in a data-communications topology having associated therewith a maintained databank of partial profiles, is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: from a user, receiving a transaction having therein a first partial profile; using the first partial profile, searching a databank having a plurality of second partial profiles, wherein is included in said databank at least one null profile so that said searching will always yield at least one proximate second partial profile to the first partial profile; and between the user and the databank, contracting: (I) for the databank to own or represent a right to a first mutually agreed portion of the first partial profile, and substantially thereafter said databank incorporating the agreed portion of the first profile into at least one second partial profile; or (II) for the user to own or represent a right to a second mutually agreed portion of at least one said proximate second partial profile, and substantially thereafter the databank transmitting to the user the second mutually agreed portion of the second profile. The present invention operates best on a brokerage representation model; and thereby provides a means for making viable the economic commerce in information attributes.

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 11/099,861, filedApr. 6, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,428,493, which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 09/593,993, filed Jun. 14, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No.6,925,440, which claims priority to Israel Application No. 133,489,filed Dec. 13, 1999. A portion of the disclosure of this patent documentcontains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyrightowner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of thepatent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patentand Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves allcopyright rights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a mercantile method.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a mercantile methoddirected to brokerage of attributes of information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Advances in database technology have given rise to commerce in records,files and databases, per se. For example, paying for a database creditcheck for an individual or buying a mailing list have become commonpractice. These well-known systems do not address the problems of howthe database is to collect all of the attributes of information that arecontained therein. Often, the contents of a database are the result ofmassive clerical efforts, which usually represent the product of manycalendar years of transactional accumulations.

Sometimes, whole databases are merged to form higher precision dataclusters. For example, voting turnout lists may be integrated withcensus data to produce a register from which a statistical profile ofvoters may be derived. Another example relates to merging the records ofa credit card company with the records of a mortgage company. For thosepersons having an entry in each of the constituent record sets, theresult is a credit profile of more precise resolution. In this example,the actual economic value of merged records exceeds the combined valuesof constituent records. This would likewise be true for the inclusion ofany additional attribute of information to any record.

Unfortunately, the current state of information commerce is focused onthe sales of whole databases, whole records, or evaluations based onsingle or clusters of records. In commercial applications where specificattributes of information strongly affect the value of evaluations,there is a need in the art for commerce in such attributes. For example,in targeted advertising, every attribute, which substantially affectsthe probability of that advertisement's success, innately has a discreteeconomic value. Likewise, in actuarial calculations, how precisely aclient can be profiled determines what the probability of profiting fromsuch a client.

More specifically, there remains a need in the art for assigning valuesto information attributes or for managing value assignments toinformation attributes. In the absence of such assignments ormanagement, the commerce in information attributes, per se, issubstantially precluded; especially in client-specific advertisementprofiling, client-specific actuarial targeting, and the like.

The present invention will forthwith be described with a certain degreeof particularity, however those versed in the art will readilyappreciate that various modifications and alterations may be carried outwithout departing from either the spirit or scope, as hereinafterclaimed.

In describing the present invention, explanations are presented in lightof currently accepted theories and models; be they scientific, economic,sociological, etc. Such theories and models are subject to changes, bothadiabatic and radical. Often these changes occur because representationsfor fundamental component elements are innovated, because newtransformations between these elements are conceived, or because newinterpretations arise for these elements or for their transformations.Therefore, it is important to note that the present invention relates tospecific technological actualization in embodiments. Accordingly, theoryor model dependent explanations herein, related to these embodiments,are presented for the purpose of teaching, the current man of the art orthe current team of the art, how these embodiments may be substantiallyrealized in practice. Alternative or equivalent explanations for theseembodiments may neither deny nor alter their realization.

GLOSSARY

Profile: A collection of attributes that describe a person or anorganization or any other entity that can be described by a combinationof data. For example, a person profile could be a collection of thefollowing attributes: the person's gender, the person's age, theperson's education, the person's interests as reflected in his behavioror as reported by the person or as reflected from his membership in aspecific club and so forth. An organization profile could be acollection of the following attributes: number of employees, activitiesthe organization maintain whether business activities or otheractivities, the organization's revenues, the organization's grossprofit, the organization's operating profit, the organization's netprofit, the organization's equity and so forth. It should be mentionedthat profile attributes include, among other things, attributes thatenable the identification of the entity described by the profile such asname, address, URL, cookie. In addition, profile attributes may includeinformation learned about the entity described by the profile from acommunication protocol such as the information learned about the visitorto a web site from its http header.

User: any entity that owns attributes contained in at least one partialprofile. The entity could be a web site that has a database of itsvisitor profiles, an organization with a database of partial profiles orthe subject described by the profile itself.

Cookie: A text (or alphanumeric) string that is put on a computer harddisk of a visitor to a web site by the web site's server. The cookieenables the identification of the specific computer on its future visitsto the web site. Each cookie is reported (by the computer browser) onlyto the web site server that installed that cookie. Therefore, it shouldbe clearly understood that the only way for a third party to acquirecookie data is to receive that data from the server that installed thatcookie, or from another third party who so acquired the data from achain of parties going back to that cookie setting server, etc.

Contract: An agreement between a user and a system incorporating themethod of the present invention wherein ownership of an attribute or aright to represent an attribute is transferred from one party to anotherfor an agreed consideration. Generally, examples include a purchase ofan attribute for cash or credit, or an acceptance of an attributeaccording to a brokerage fee schedule. More specifically, since thereare many problems in assigning the value of an attribute, the system ofthe present invention may simply agree to store new attributes with theproviso that users wishing to acquire a copy of these attributes willtransfer a payment specified by the original attribute provider (theroyalty payment) to that provider and a brokerage fee for providing thisservice payable to the system's account. Alternatively, the attributeprovider or the system may elect to assign a value to an attribute usinga formula which factors in such parameters as newness of the attribute,geographical extent wherein the attribute is of presumable value,veracity of the attribute, etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a descriptive-profilemercantile method, for use at a juncture in a data-communicationstopology having associated therewith a maintained databank of partialprofiles, the method including the steps of:

-   -   (a) from a user, receiving a transaction having therein a first        partial profile;    -   (b) using the first partial profile, searching a databank having        a plurality of second partial profiles, wherein is included in        said databank at least one null profile so that said searching        will always yield at least one proximate second partial profile        to the first partial profile;    -   (c) between the user and the databank, contracting:        -   i. for the databank to own or represent a right to a first            mutually agreed portion of the first partial profile, and            substantially thereafter said databank incorporating the            agreed portion of the first profile into at least one second            partial profile; or        -   ii. for the user to own or represent a right to a second            mutually agreed portion of at least one said proximate            second partial profile, and substantially thereafter the            databank transmitting to the user the second mutually agreed            portion of the second profile.

The present invention comes to provide a means for making viable theeconomic commerce in information attributes. Since the value of suchattribute will only become well understood with the implementation ofthe present method in the electronic commerce marketplace, the presentbest enabling mode for the present invention operates on a brokeragerepresentation model. According to this model, a typical use of thepresent invention may be according to the following scenario.

An electronically facilitated visitor to an Internet web-site presentshis credentials. These credentials could be the visitor profile itselfor a cookie or a user name and so forth that enables the site toretrieve the visitor profile or any combination of the above. Of course,it could be that the site does not have a profile of the visitor to thatweb-site. The web-site may make better profit from the visitation if itwere to know more about the visitor. The web-site forwards particularsfrom the visitor's credentials (a partial profile), as well as(optionally) a redirect to a portion of the visitor's page to a serverlocated in cyberspace (at a juncture in a data communications topology).By redirecting a portion of the visitor's page to the server, thevisitor's browser reports to the server a cookie the server put on thevisitor's computer in the past, if any. This server interconnects theuser's transactions and the server own cookie (if used) with a computerhaving therein software for running the method of the present invention.Associated with the computer is a databank, having therein an organizedensemble of information attributes.

The computer uses the forwarded visitor credentials with its servercookie (if any) to search the associated databank. Either or both of twopossible mercantile events are set into motion thereby.

Firstly, it may be the case that the credentials contain new informationattributes which were not heretofore known in the databank. According toa simple model of evaluating the value of these attributes, the databaseincorporates these new attributes and the computer assigns a userselected micro-payment royalty for each elected use of these attributesby any other user. Stated simply, if the user provides a date of birthfor a known named person in the data bank, then the user is the owner ofthat date of birth attribute, and a user designated micro paymentroyalty (or credit) is assigned to the user for each purchase of thatattribute by another user. The owner of the databank may likewisecollect for itself a brokerage commission for each use of the attribute.

Secondly, the databank may contain new attributes that were not in theinitial visitor credentials. In this case, the user is told that suchattributes exist for purchase, what these new attributes describe (e.g.education level associated with the visitor), and the micro-paymentroyalty plus brokerage fee that is charged for each respectiveattribute. If the user is interested in any of these attributes, then acontract is agreed to, resulting in a micro-payment transfer from theuser to the broker and to the royalty owner, and a transfer of a copy ofthe attribute to the user (the buyer).

Other types of contracts and other types of pricing structures areavailable for the user in his interactions with the “system of thepresent invention” (e.g. the computer with its associated databank); aswill be describes in subsequent sections.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES AND APPENDICES

In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carriedout in practice, embodiments including the preferred embodiment will nowbe described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of an Internet data-communicationstopology;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of a system using thedescriptive-profile mercantile method;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic view of a computer program product;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic view of a program storage device; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic view of an installed computer system forfacilitating a descriptive-profile mercantile method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In FIG. 1 there is presented a schematic illustration of adata-communications topology as a wide area network (e.g. the Internet)(1) having interconnected thereto a visitor (2), a user (3), and asystem (4) embodying the method of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a descriptive-profile mercantile method(further presented in FIG. 2), for use at a juncture in adata-communications topology having associated therewith a maintaineddatabank of partial profiles, the method including the steps of:

-   -   (a) from a user (3), receiving (5) a transaction having therein        a first partial profile;    -   (b) using the first partial profile, searching (6) a databank        (7) having a plurality of second partial profiles, wherein is        included in said databank at least one null profile so that said        searching will always yield at least one proximate second        partial profile to the first partial profile;    -   (c) between the user and the databank, contracting:    -   i. (10) for the databank to own or represent a right to a first        mutually agreed portion of the first partial profile, and        substantially thereafter said databank incorporating the agreed        portion of the first profile into at least one second partial        profile; or    -   ii. (9) for the user to own or represent a right to a second        mutually agreed portion of at least one said proximate second        partial profile, and substantially thereafter the databank        transmitting to the user the second mutually agreed portion of        the second profile.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, receiving atransaction includes extracting at least one predetermined key portionof the first partial profile, wherein at least one of these extractedpredetermined key portions is then used as the first partial profile forthe searching of the databank. According to a variation of thisembodiment, extracting includes constructing at least one composite keyfor the searching of the databank using a combinatorial of at least twoof the predetermined key portions of the first partial profile.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, contractingincludes selecting a pricing structure according to a rating of theuser.

According to a different embodiment of the present invention,contracting a right includes accepting an obligation to pay forsubstantially each use or transfer of the agreed portion.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention,incorporating the agreed portion includes assigning a credibilityweighting to the agreed portion of the first profile. According to avariation of this embodiment, incorporating includes convoluting theassigned credibility weighting of the first profile with a pre-existingcredibility weighting of a substantially like agreed portion of aproximate second profile; and storing the convoluted new credibilityweighting for the agreed portion in the databank. According to a furtherrefinement of this variation, contracting includes selecting a pricingstructure according to a result of a computation comparing the newcredibility weighting with the pre-existing credibility weighting.

According to an additional embodiment of the present invention,receiving a transaction includes consulting an external database (11).

According to an extension embodiment of the present invention, themethod furthermore includes:

-   -   i) searching at least one external database (11) for a partial        profile or portion thereof which complements a at least one        second partial profile of the databank, and    -   ii) between the database and the databank, contracting for the        databank to own or represent a right to a first mutually agreed        portion of the complementing first partial profile, and        substantially thereafter said databank incorporating the agreed        portion of the first profile into at least one second partial        profile.

The present invention also relates to a computer program product (seeFIG. 3) including a computer usable medium having computer readableprogram code embodied therein for facilitating descriptive profilemercantile activities, the computer readable program code including:

-   -   a) first computer readable program code (20) for causing a        computer to receive a transaction from a user, the transaction        having therein a first partial profile;    -   b) tied to the first computer readable program code, second        computer readable program code (21) for causing the computer to        use the first partial profile to search a databank having a        plurality of second partial profiles, wherein is included in        said databank at least one null profile so that said searching        will always yield at least one proximate second partial profile        to the first partial profile; and    -   c) tied to the second computer readable program code, third        computer readable program code (22) for causing the computer to        contract between the user and the databank:        -   i) for the databank to own or represent a right to a first            mutually agreed portion of the first partial profile, and            substantially thereafter for said databank to incorporate            the agreed portion of the first profile into at least one            second partial profile; or        -   ii) for the user to own or represent a right to a second            mutually agreed portion of at least one said proximate            second partial profile, and substantially thereafter for the            databank to transmit to the user the second mutually agreed            portion of the second profile.

Furthermore, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the present invention relates toa program storage device (30) readable by machine, tangibly embodying aprogram of instructions executable by the machine to perform methodsteps for a descriptive-profile mercantile method, for use at a juncturein a data-communications topology having associated therewith amaintained databank of partial profiles, said method steps including:

-   -   a) from a user, receiving a transaction having therein a first        partial profile;    -   b) using the first partial profile, searching a databank having        a plurality of second partial profiles, wherein is included in        said databank at least one null profile so that said searching        will always yield at least one proximate second partial profile        to the first partial profile;    -   c) between the user and the databank, contracting:        -   i) for the databank to own or represent a right to a first            mutually agreed portion of the first partial profile, and            substantially thereafter said databank incorporating the            agreed portion of the first profile into at least one second            partial profile; or        -   ii) for the user to own or represent a right to a second            mutually agreed portion of at least one said proximate            second partial profile, and substantially thereafter the            databank transmitting to the user the second mutually agreed            portion of the second profile.

The present invention also relates to a computer system for facilitatinga descriptive-profile mercantile method (see FIG. 5), the systemincluding:

-   -   a) a computer (40) installed at a juncture in a        data-communications topology (1);    -   b) associated with said computer, a storage device (42) for        keeping a maintained databank of partial profiles; and    -   c) associated with the internal functionality components of the        computer, appurtenances (41) for performing method steps        including:        -   i) from a user, receiving a transaction having therein a            first partial profile;        -   ii) using the first partial profile, searching a databank            having a plurality of second partial profiles, wherein is            included in said databank at least one null profile so that            said searching will always yield at least one proximate            second partial profile to the first partial profile;        -   iii) between the user and the databank, contracting:            -   (1) for the databank to own or represent a right to a                first mutually agreed portion of the first partial                profile, and substantially thereafter said databank                incorporating the agreed portion of the first profile                into at least one second partial profile; or            -   (2) for the user to own or represent a right to a second                mutually agreed portion of at least one said proximate                second partial profile, and substantially thereafter the                databank transmitting to the user the second mutually                agreed portion of the second profile.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,“attribute” relates to an information particular (or attribute) that isaggregated with other particulars to form a partial profile. Examples ofattributes may be: name, address, income, age, education, details ofproduct purchase transaction over the Internet, credit rating, etc.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,“data” relates to knowledge concerning a visitor.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,“data-communications topology” relates to a virtually interconnectedcollection of communications facilities including at least one mutuallyagreed protocol between any directly communication facilities in thecollection.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,“information” relates to the collection of all attributes known by auser about a visitor.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,“pricing structure” relates to the price and payments for data exchangedby the user and the system.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, allprofiles are, by definition, partial. A profile may describe aspects ofa person, or an organization, or of a corporation. It is logicallyimpossible to have complete information about any of these. However, anyparticular of information about any of these may have an economic valuefor a customer of profile information.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a“databank” relates to an accessible searchable aggregation of records orlike data structure units wherein “partial” profiles are stored.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,“system” relates to a computer embodying the descriptive profilemercantile method according to the present invention.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,“transaction” relates to a process to complete a communicative activitybetween the parties that reciprocally affects or influences the otherparty. It may include an acquisition provision of a partial profile, anidentification of the user, a reference to a contractual mechanismrelated to the acquisition, screening, and/or distribution of new dataand a pricing structure.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,“user” relates to an individual, web site, search-robot and/or othertype of software agent that interacts with the system by virtue of theircontacting a juncture in the data-communications topology where themethod is installed in order to acquire, trade, dispose of and/or brokersome attribute data for the purpose of acquiring some potential economicor other value in connection with that attribute data.

In the context of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,“visitor” relates to an entity the user has access to or is interestedin. The visitor could be a consumer or potential customer of an offeringof goods, services, or information.

Introduction

This invention relates to gaining an ability to buy, sell, broker, andtrade specific pieces of data between two disjoint parties within thecontext of a system that may include a databank and that may include amicro-payment royalty arrangement as a pricing structure in connectionwith the aforesaid exchange of data.

The specific pieces of data that may be involved in the exchange areknown as attributes. The attributes relate to details of a particularprofile. The profile can be a collection of descriptive information asused by an advertiser for generating targeted advertising or used by aninsurer for finding a more specific actuarial rate. It is noted that asecondary type of profile that is also contained in another embodimentof the invention is a form of a collective profile that is an aggregatethat is based on a pre-structured analysis of the existing individualprofiles such as average or typical.

In the normal course of a transaction between a user and an embodimentof a system according to the present invention a typical scenarioensues:

-   -   1. A visitor arrives at a web site of the user. The web site of        the user collects a variety of specific data about the visitor        that may include the visitor's cookie and any other information        that the visitor voluntarily disclosed to the web site.    -   2. The web site has a number of interests in the visitor and the        information that the web site possesses about the visitor. In        connection to a profile of the visitor, there would be a benefit        to the web site if the web site could acquire additional        information as to the specific visitor or at least acquire        typical profile information about a class of individuals        possessing similar profiles relative to the specific visitor.        Possession of such additional information will enable the web        site to engage in potentially more successful product offering        and/or targeted advertising to the visitor. Another independent        benefit that can accrue to the web site is the gain of some        economic remuneration for and as a function of the information        itself that the web site possesses about the visitor.

In order for the web site to progress and to potentially achieve eitheror both of the above mentioned benefits (the improved targetedadvertising (or improved product offering) to the visitor as well as thegain of some economic remuneration of the information itself about thevisitor); the web site now becomes a user of the system of the presentinvention. The web site as a user of the present invention constructs atransaction that contain those portions of the information it possessesabout the visitor that it is allowed to diverge to third parties.

The transaction includes:

-   -   1. Information that the user is allowed to disclose to third        parties about the visitor.    -   2. Contract terms about the user, typically including but not        limited to: identity, predetermined rate structures per        transaction type, and information type, pre-determined        contractual relations with the system as to what each party—the        user and the system can do with information exchanged between        them.    -   3. Instructions as to the type of transaction—buy, sell, broker,        and/or trade information to be conducted between the user and        the system.

Thus, the user sends a transaction in the data communication topologywhere the system is installed; as for example, via the Internet,Intranet, LAN, WAN, wireless packet communications system, etc.Thereupon, the system receives the transaction, identifies the user,interprets instructions sent concerning the transaction's contractualterms and type, i.e. the applicable contract and structure for using allor some of the attributes contained in the information (hereinafter,“First Visitor Profile Data”) includes the profile of the visitor asknown to the site, visitor information included in the communicationprotocol such as the information in the http header, profile attributesthat enable the identification of the entity described by the profile bythe databank such as name, address, URL, cookie put by the serverconnected to the databank and so forth. It should be noted that theprofile of the visitor known to the site mentioned above might notinclude certain attributes the user is not interested in exposing to thedatabank or attributes that are of no interest to the databank. Forexample, a databank that identifies web site visitors by the cookie itsserver puts on their computers, could decide not to take ‘real worldidentifying attributes’ such as name, address and e-mail in order togive web surfers a level of anonymity

The system searches a databank according to what is contained in theFirst Visitor Profile Data (contained in the transaction) in order tofind either: at least one profile in the databank that matches theinformation in the visitor profile (that includes the informationdispatched by the user related to the visitor, visitor informationincluded in the communication protocol such as the information in thehttp header, profile attributes that enable the identification of theentity described by the profile by the databank such as name, address,URL, cookie put by the server connected to the databank and so forth) orto find at least one aggregate profile that describes a profile of agroup that the visitor might belong to.

If it is the intent of the user, as contained in the transactioninstructions, to purchase additional attributes that may relate to theFirst Visitor Profile Data, then the system examines the profiles it hasfound in its search, determines if it has any new attributes not sent bythe user. In the event that the system has found new attributes thatwere sent by the user, the system reviews the contract instructions ofthe transaction in order to determine the relevance of the newattributes found to the intent of the user. If the system finds the newattributes relevant, then the system will debit the user's account inaccordance with a pre-agreed pricing structure in connection withadditional attributes related to the First Visitor Profile Data that aredelivered as data to the user.

A non-limiting example of the principle of data release in accordancewith the user's contractual instructions is herein provided. It may bethat in the contract with the user, the user has instructed that it isnever interested in receiving any data that does not specifically relateto the visitor, meaning the user is not interested in information aboutan average profile of a group that the visitor might belong to. Anotherexample could be that the user has instructed that it is not interestedin the habits of a visitor, but specifically, only in information abouthis age, gender, education and income. The reason may be to preclude thesystem from disclosing the name of the visitor since the user alwaysknows the name of the visitor and has no interest in paying to re-learnwhat it already knows. Thus, in accordance with the contractualinstructions, no attribute data relating to information the userspecified it is not interested in receiving will either be sent, andsince such information was not sent, it will not be debited to theuser's account.

An alternative example is the case where the user only has an interestin a pre-defined—within the transactional instructions—set ofattributes. For example, the user may only be interested in what type ofcar the visitor drives, or what the visitor's current credit rating is,or, what may be the most interesting example, what category of goodshave been purchased by the visitor over a pre-defined period. It isnoted that elements of this last example may typically be a piece ofinformation that other typical users trade with or sell to the system.

It should be noted that a user may restrict the use of attributes itsells to the databank. The restrictions could be of number of usages, towhom the databank has the permission to sell, and so forth.

A second class of data that is found by the system as it searches mayequally be of value to the user. This is the search result thatdemonstrates discrepancies between the disclosure of information by theuser to the system and the results of the search by the system. The factthat there is a discrepancy, as well as the nature of the discrepancy,may be of value to the user, the system, or both.

A third category is the example where there are pieces of informationrelating to the user in the descriptive portion of the transaction thatdescribes the visitor which the search by the system failed to disclose.For example, the make and model of the car driven by the visitor,recently purchased from the user's web site might be the new informationotherwise unknown to the system. In this instance, the system would gothrough an appropriate contractual arrangement in order to credit theuser for the new attribute which the user has delivered to the system.

The various kinds of contracts available in a transaction between thesystem and the user are: buy, sell, broker, and trade. Where newinformation is disclosed to the system a royalty arrangement (or,alternatively, an outright purchase or sale) comprised of micro paymentsmay be employed. In addition to the various kinds of contracts, thereare various types of users. A user may be a large scale commercial website or an individual small scale web page. Furthermore, there may bedifferent types of rate structures. An audited user which may have takenefforts to verify information regarding a user, for example a creditbureau, would have a different payment rate for new information that itdiscloses to the system than a user with information that is neitheraudited nor verified but which is causal.

Thus the value of information in a databank can change as a function ofits credibility and source. Accordingly, the royalty payment rate forsaid information could be enhanced or reduced as a function of itsvalue.

In addition to profiles of a visitor it may be of interest to allow anembodiment of the invention to create a type of secondary market for theinformation consisting of a predetermined class of profiles about allvisitors. For example it may be of interest to know what type ofindividuals, including their profession, income, gender, and geographiclocation, buy a certain model of vehicle. The purchase, sale, trade,and/or brokerage of this class of data can than enter a mercantile modeland may be of significant interest to advertisers.

DESCRIPTION

The preferred embodiment of the present invention relates to the use ofa procedure on a computer attached to a network, Internet, Intranet,LAN, WAN, wireless packet communication system or hybrid composite ofany of the above whereby data is exchanged by purchase, sale, trade, orbrokerage and micro payments of royalties as a pricing structure thatmay accompany the data exchange.

This procedure begins with the introduction to the system of data thatcontains a partial profile that will be used in the establishment,supplementation, or improvement of a descriptive profile. The partialprofile will often itself contain certain predetermined identifiedcommercial attributes, demographic attributes, or behavioral attributesor combinations thereof or the like. These attributes then allowconstruction of a descriptive profile that resides as existinginformation in a databank, However, inherent design characteristics ofthe descriptive profile result in the descriptive profile always beingpartial. This means that data within the profile relates to one or moreattributes of the item, business, service, data characteristic,advertisement, or person that is being profiled. The descriptive profileis then methodically employed in an activity that verifies orcontradicts, maintains, modifies, updates or downgrades, and/or enhancesthe databank of previously existing partial profiles. Thereafter, thesystem may retain, market, and/or exchange with the user new resultant(of the process described) data that contains further descriptiveprofile attributes for further usage.

Since the present invention is directed to the value of details of aprofile, it is an object of the present invention to facilitate thetransfer of rights to such particulars. For example, a visitor mayarrive at a commercial Internet web-site. The visitor may disclose hiscookie and may provide the web-site with other facts about him/herselfon a non-confidential basis. The web site may then contact a juncture ina data-communications topology where the present method is installed.According to one scenario, the web-site is a familiar user of thepresent method, and has pre-arranged the terms and conditions of whatinformation he may wish to transfer rights to. For example, afterconsidering the web-site transmission containing the non-confidentialdisclosed information, the system may find that all of the informationalready recorded in its databank with the single exception of thevisitor's annual income. By prearranged contract details, the web-siteis given a predetermined micro-payment credit for providing this detail.Alternatively, by prearranged contract the databank agrees to store thisuser attribute and to credit the providing web-site with a micro-paymentroyalty for each use of this attribute “purchased” from the databank byeach interested party.

Likewise, according to the same prearranged contractual arrangementbetween the user and the databank, the databank may find that itrepresents a right to an attribute that has not been disclosed to it bythe user. In this example, the system's databank may then transmit aquery to the user in the form: “for the identified visitor (detail fromoriginal transaction inserted), are you interested in the followingattributes according to the associated payment conditions: (educationlevel, micro-payment price schedule 1), (gender, micro-payment priceschedule 2), etc.?”

The systematic procedure described in the preceding paragraph includesvarious steps that can be better illustrated by example. However, thereader should be aware that all examples which are given in thisdocument are limiting examples that are expressed in this documentsolely for the purpose of explanation and not for the purpose oflimitation.

Initially a user will interface with the system by providing thesystem's databank with a partial profile consisting of at least oneattribute which will enable the identification of the entity describedby the profile in the system's databank (the attribute could be forexample, the cookie installed on the visitor's computer (the visitor toa web site which is a user of the system of course) by the serverattached to the databank. The user enables the server attached to thedatabank to receive the cookie it installed by redirecting a portion ofthe visitor page to the databank's server). For example a company mightprovide the system with a name of one of its customers. This step setsthe process in motion. For once there is an initiation by contributionof an initial attribute list by the user, the system will searchexisting data in the databank.

It should be recognized that the existing databank would have thecharacteristics that when it is approached by the user it will alreadycontain or have the ability to acquire or generate a multiplicity ofother partial profiles and room for at least one null profile; since itis the business of the databank to consider representing any new item ofprofile information. For example the databank might contain a list ofgeographic addresses of individuals. Then, once the user provides aname, the system will provide either a corresponding address or themessage address unknown.

An alternative example has the user, in this case a web portal,providing the computer with a list of the previously monitored searchhabits of one of the portal's visitors. The system's databank might thensuggest to the portal other web sites that contain text and/or graphicsof similar type which the portal might then suggest to the visitor,presuming that the system maintains profiles on portals or web sites orsurfing habits. If the web sites provided by the portal are provided ona fee basis, then a mechanism may be included in the contractual basisbetween the portal and the system whereby partial remuneration in theform of a micro payment would be made for any click through activity onthe part of the visitor to a web site suggested by the system to theportal and then suggested by the portal to the visitor. It is noted thatthe click itself would be of further interest to both the portal and thesystem in the building by the system of a profile related to thebehavioral characteristics or psychological makeup or predisposition ofthe visitor.

Once there is a coupling of the first partial profile of the user with asecond partial profile existing in the databank, a contract can beformed between the user and the system related to the new informationset which has resulted. The contract should provide that the system willown or acquire a license to utilize an agreed portion of the firstpartial profile which has been confirmed and at some time thereafter thesystem will incorporate the agreed portion of the first profile into atleast one second partial profile in the system's databank.

For example the name of an individual (an initial partial profileprovided by the user) when coupled with age (a second partial profileprovided by another use, inherent in the system's databank, or acquiredby the system searching other databases will provide a partial secondprofile of certain demographic value consisting of name and age. If, forexample, other partial profiles are found to correspond to gender,geographic address, and/or general income, there is a furtherenhancement of the partial second profile which results in a gain in thevalue of the information residing or incorporated from other databasesinto the system's databank and offered for exchange in accordance withthe terms and instructions existing between the user and the system.

Alternatively, rather than the system acquiring by ownership or licensean agreed portion of the first profile; the user itself might desire toacquire a right to own or license to use at least a part of an agreedportion of the second partial profile which has been confirmed by thesystem by its coupling with the first partial profile. Thus it would bean agreed function of the system to provide to the user an agreedportion of the second profile

For example the user might have the name and car model owned by adriver; the system's databank might have or have acquired the drivingrecord of the driver and the safety record of the particular car model.The result of the coupling is the ability to refine an appropriateinsurance rate for the particular driver and his car.

Alternatively the descriptive profile mercantile method might do both ofthe above by providing ownership or license to use certain informationgleaned by the coupling of an initial partial profile with a secondpartial profile to both the system and the user. For example thesystem's databank might retain the use of the names and addresses andactuarial calculations of insurance agents residing in a geographicalarea proximate to the driver mentioned in the above paragraph, while auser (in this case the driver himself) might retain the name and addressof the insurance agents willing to offer him insurance.

Inherent in the above examples is that the system that receives an inputor exchange of data consisting of a first partial profile from a userwill distill from that information at least one predetermined attribute.This attribute is then utilized by the system for searching the system'sdatabank. Thus, the system, when receiving data, will, within theparameters of the transaction, extract at least one predetermined keyportion of the first partial profile, wherein at least one of theseextracted predetermined key portions is then used as the first partialprofile for the searching of the system's databank. When the systemextracts data it also constructs at least one composite key for thesearching of the databank using a combinatorial of at least two of thepredetermined key portions of the first partial profile. For example, acombination of the name and address of a person described in a profilewill be used to search the databank. The combinatorial use is ofimportance to differentiate between partial profiles of people with thesame name that do not allow cookies, for example. Continuing theexample, in addition to whether the advertisement is for automobiles, itmay be important to couple that information with advertisements only forhome utility vans such that the first partial profile will now consistof car advertisements only for home utility vans.

An “interest” expressed by a user and the system, as to what theseparties define between them as relevant data, may be expressed by theuser and the system in a pricing structure. The pricing structure willinclude a contract between the user and the system that will include anobligation by the party which utilizes the information flowing to thesystem's databank to pay the other for substantially each use ortransfer of the agreed information transferred between them. Instantdata may or may not be ephemeral, and the profiles themselves may haveeither a limited or an unlimited shelf live. This means that informationbecomes currency and is treated by the parties in a manner similar tocurrency. To own or utilize certain information, there is a priceassociated with it either as a sales price or a rental price. In theevent that the information is re-useable, in part or in whole then acertain predetermined royalty may be associated with each use of theportion of the information which is reused. Let an example be providedat this juncture to further illustrate the operation of the preferredembodiment.

Normative market research consists of an array of information that isgleaned from answers provided to a questioner. However, the marketresearch contains within itself not only the ability to provide truthfulresponses but also the ability to provide sampling errors due to eitherwrong answers, wrongly recorded answers, an error in the framing of thequestions themselves, and/or an error in the population base which isbeing questioned. Clearly the larger and more diverse (or morehomogeneous) the sample population (depending on the type of responsesrequired), the larger number of similar questions answered, and theability to better refine the questions all assist in increasing thevalue of the market analysis performed.

In the embodiment of the invention described, the user provides either aquestion or an answer, i.e. the initial partial profile. Thereupon, thesystem thereupon takes the initial partial profile and extracts from ita predetermined data that is then used for searching the databank.Depending on the contract between the user and the system, the systemwill or will not pay the user for the initial partial profile, or partsthereof. The search of the databank, results in the construction of anew profile that contains at least two predetermined parts of the firstpartial profile. For example, both the user and the system may beinterested in screening the responses to a market survey of anindividual respondent in order to ascertain whether on previous orsimilar questionnaires the respondent's answers were identical ordeviant. This will allow both the user and the system to value thetruthfulness of the current responses. The aforesaid quality value willhave a predetermined monetary or other agreed “barter” value between theparties.

In addition, since the upgrading or downgrading of the credibility ofthe respondent has qualitative value in and of itself for other marketsurveys; to the extent that the user's information contributed to thenew evaluation of the respondent, a payment might flow to the user.Similarly, to the extent that the upgrading or downgrading of thecredibility of the respondent is based on existing information in thesystem's databank, the system may provide a royalty payment to theinitiator of the existing information in the system's databank. Thus, tothe extent that the information inherent in the initial partial profileand in existing partial profiles have value and to the extent thatparticipants who utilize the system (including the system's databankitself) have agreed on the value rating of the information and theamount to be paid between them an exchange of predetermined economicvalue will flow between the participants. In addition, to the extentthere is further information and further participants, the continuingre-evaluation by the participants of a market valuation of theinformation as a function of the expected utility value of theinformation may further drive over time the price evaluation of both theinformation and the payments to be made between users and the system.

Furthermore, the preferred embodiment may embrace a further possiblevariations, i.e. an assignment by the contracting participants and/orthe databank, per se, of a credibility rating to the agreed portion ofthe first partial profile. Coupling of the first partial profile with asecond partial profile result in verification/confirmation of the firstpartial profile and second partial profile or contradiction/down gradingof the credibility of the first partial profile and/or the secondpartial profile. By example, the first partial profile contains the nameof Joe Blue, the information that he is male, and the information thathe lives in Mississippi. However, the corresponding second partialprofile associated with Joe Blue contains the information that he is ashe (real name Josephine) and that she lives in Mississippi. Theverification—perhaps—of the name is of dubious value in and of itself.However, in the event that for a certainty it can be established thatJoe Blue is really Josephine Blue and that the gender is female ratherthan male, then, to a user of the information, the validation ordisqualification of the information has significant value. Assume thatthe user of the information is an advertiser of beauty care products.The fact that Joe is male or female can result in an advertisement ofbeauty care products specifically targeted to the profile—in this case,male or female. In this instant case, the user (the advertiser) willassign a value to the credibility of the information.

Intrinsic to the example immediately above is the ability of theparticipants either individually or collectively to either raise orlower the rated utility value assigned to the first partial profileconsistent with the pre-determined (but perhaps equally dynamic)credibility weighting system of the second partial profile. Thereafterthe newly rated utility value of the partial profile incorporated in thedatabase is stored for future usage. Lets see how this works in the caseof Joe (Josephine) Blue. The first partial profile indicated that Joewas male; however all subsequent partial profiles which could beassigned to Joe (Josephine) Blue render to a statistical certainty thatJoe (Josephine) Blue is actually female. This, combined with otherattributes like geographical address, income level, and even spendingpatterns, when stored in the databank, results in an increasingly higherutility value rating for the (credible) information associated with Joe(Josephine) Blue. Thus, the raising or lowering of the credibilityrating of an attribute due to the interaction between the associatedattribute of the first partial profile and the second partial profileresults in a corresponding change in the rating of the anticipatedutility value of the attributes and profile themselves.

A further variation of the preferred embodiment incorporates an agreedportion of the data and assigns a credibility rating to the agreedportion of the first profile. This is accomplished by assigning acredibility rating of the first profile with a pre-existing credibilityrating of a substantially like agreed portion of a proximate secondprofile; and storing the convoluted new credibility weighting for theagreed portion in the system's databank. This may result in aninteresting result. When the participants select a pricing structure inaccordance with a predetermined corresponding rating of the utilityvalue of the partial attributes, the result is the continuousre-calibration of new information with existing information and apredetermined agreement by the parties as to the various value rating ofan attribute.

If, for example, Ms. Blue's credit rating were confirmed as bankrupt,the desire of an advertiser to send her advertisements for the purchaseof a pleasure craft would be seriously impacted notwithstanding the factthat other information in the databank related to Ms Blue indicates thatshe is a water skiing enthusiast and otherwise fits both demographic,behavioral, and/or psychological profiles (which might reside in thedatabank) associated with candidates for potential purchasers ofpleasure craft.

Another particularly useftl variation of the preferred embodiment of theinvention includes within it the possibility of consultation by thesystem with an external database or external databases. For example, thesystem is not restricted to searching the existing attributes residingwithin its own databank. Rather, the system is capable of acting as afirst partial profile user to other databases, searching them, tradinginformation with them or borrowing, renting, or purchasing otherattributes with them. Thus the information related to credit worthinessattributes of Ms. Blue of the previous example might reside in adatabase owned by a credit company. Nonetheless, as per the example, thesystem would be able to utilize the information resident in the creditcompany's database for its own purposes related to the transaction withthe user.

Furthermore the preferred embodiment may embrace other possiblevariations, including an ability to search one or more externaldatabases for a partial profile, or part thereof, which complements atleast one second partial profile of the system's databank. In theexample of Ms. Blue, the name may be resident in the databank as well asa number of different external databases. Other attributes may reside aswell either in the databank or in one or more external databases.Nonetheless, the result by search, correlation, and rating of theinformation in the databank and the databases results in both anexpanded profile and a higher rating as to credibility of the partialprofile existing both in the databank and in the other databases.

Thus, both system and owners of other databases may themselves contractbetween themselves for the right to own, use, license, or rent theother's partial profile and for the right to sublicense others tofurther use the other's partial profile. Since the information may verywell have a shelf life—even as its credibility and rating may changeover time—the result is a corresponding velocity of the value of theinformation in that not only is the more the information used is themore valuable it is and becomes; but the more the information can beused the greater the potential value it has to its owners of licensors(with a right to sublicense). If we return to our example of Ms. Blue,the fact that she is female (information from the system's databank), isinterested in water skiing (a partial attribute contributed by the firstpartial profile user), and has a restored credit rating (provided by anexternal credit service database) means that another user looking at itsown profiles of young, single, sports minded women, would desire toprovide her with advertisements related to scuba diving in the Gulf ofMexico, for example. This other user would pay the system for theinformation it has stored or accessed. The system itself would pay theinitial provider of the verification of the gender of Ms. Blue, to theuser who contributed that Ms. Blue is interested in water skiing andmight share a fee associated with the clarification of Ms. Blues' actualcredit worthiness.

As an alternative embodiment to a process that has previously beendescribed is the ability to embody the invention not as a process but asa computer useable program, i.e. a software product, which allows theexchange of descriptive profiles between users, databanks, and/orcomputers. Another alternative is usage as a computer program storagedevice.

1. An automated method of collecting profiles of Internet-usingentities, the method comprising: (a) electronically receiving at aprogrammed computer system coupled to a global computer network, from atleast one server controlled by one of a plurality of unaffiliated thirdparties operating respective websites, a partial profile of an entitythat uses a user computer coupled to the global computer network andaccessing the website, which partial profile contains at least oneprofile attribute related to the entity, and automatically with thecomputer system storing the received partial profile; (b) whereinreceiving the partial profile is achieved by automatic electronic URLredirection from a portion of a page of the website accessed by the usercomputer; (c) automatically with the computer system electronicallyadding the received partial profile to a maintained profile believed tobe related to the same entity; (d) automatically with the computersystem generating and storing an electronic record of which of theplurality of unaffiliated third parties contributed to the maintainedprofile particular profile attributes; (e) wherein the maintainedprofile, including the added partial profile, comprises data used intargeting third-party advertisements to the user computer over theglobal computer network.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprisingautomatically with the computer system electronically maintaining anelectronic record of which unaffiliated third party contributed, to themaintained profile, the profile attributes used in targeting theadvertisements.
 3. The method of claim 2 further comprisingautomatically with the computer system electronically determiningwhether the received partial profile contains any profile attributesabout the entity that were not previously contained in a maintainedprofile.
 4. The method of claim 1 further maintaining with the computersystem a credibility rating associated with at least one of the profileattributes of the maintained profile.
 5. The method of claim 4 whereinthe credibility rating is reflected in a price for the at least oneprofile attribute.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprisesautomatically with the computer system selecting profile attributes fromthe maintained profile based on the source thereof.
 7. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising automatically with the computer systemelectronically reading a cookie previously stored on the entity'scomputer, as a result of the URL redirection.
 8. The method of claim 1further comprising, in accordance with a predetermined arrangement,automatically using the electronic record of which of the plurality ofunaffiliated third parties contributed to the maintained profileparticular profile attributes to create electronic data used to identifya payment amount due to the unaffiliated third party as a result ofusing at least one of the profile attributes in the partial profilecontributed by that third party in targeting the third-partyadvertisements to the entity's computer over the global computernetwork.
 9. A tangible, non-transitory data storage medium comprisingindicia of instructions for a processor to perform a method of updatingprofiles of Internet-using entities, the method comprising: (a)electronically receiving at a programmed computer system coupled to aglobal computer network, from at least one server controlled by one of aplurality of unaffiliated third parties operating respective websites, apartial profile of an entity that uses a user computer coupled to theglobal computer network and accessing the website, which partial profilecontains at least one profile attribute related to the entity, andautomatically with the computer system storing the received partialprofile; (b) wherein receiving the partial profile is achieved byautomatic electronic URL redirection from a portion of a page of thewebsite accessed by the user computer; (c) automatically with thecomputer system electronically adding the received partial profile to amaintained profile believed to be related to the same entity; (d)automatically with the computer system generating and storing anelectronic record of which of the plurality of unaffiliated thirdparties contributed to the maintained profile particular profileattributes; (e) wherein the maintained profile, including the addedpartial profile, comprises data used in targeting third-partyadvertisements to the user computer over the global computer network.10. The data storage medium of claim 9 wherein the indicia ofinstructions instruct the processor to performing a method that furthercomprises: in accordance with a predetermined arrangement, automaticallyusing the electronic record of which of the plurality of unaffiliatedthird parties contributed to the maintained profile particular profileattributes to create electronic data used to identify a payment amountdue to the unaffiliated third party as a result of using at least one ofthe profile attributes in the partial profile contributed by that thirdparty in targeting the third-party advertisements to the entity'scomputer over the global computer network.